Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

[martinsifredi]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Hi there Guys, I am very impressed with the review of 205.

I have recently purchased this product and can't wait to use it on my 20 year old Alfa Romeo 33 Boxer 16V display/show car. so far i have used Fine cut cleaner and Fine Swirl remover followed by Deep crystal polish and finally my favorite >>> Gold Class liquid Wax.
I can't wait to try out #205 to achieve a truly flawless finish. i will also be using 205 on the 1934 Chevy Coupe I am detailing .

Please check out my 33 and the Chevy on my facebook under Martin Sifredi

I wish I knew how to add photos here . sorry

Enjoy

Long live Meguiars

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

A relatively small amount goes a long way with M205 and even M105, especially after "priming" of the pad. In many cases people are using just a few drops of product on subsequent passes.

[kc1337]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

How much product do you guys use on the pad after the initial polishing and pad priming?

Is it the same as Menzerna polishes with a tiny bit or do you still need quite a bit?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

so 205 works great when used with a rotarty... what about with a DA??
can someone comment on what speeds/techniques would be equvalent??

As Final Touch has pointed out, there really isn't a super specific "do this, this and this and everything will be perfect" process. You will need to experiment a little - it depends on what you're after, what you're trying to correct, and how the paint reacts. We've seen people get awesome results using a polishing pad somewhere between speeds 3 and 5 with a wide variety of pressures - again, this is going to be paint dependent. We've also seen people do really long buffing cycles with a finishing pad, moderate pressure and speed 4 and get incredible results.

At this stage you really are sort of finessing the paint so depending on how critical your eye is you may like one process a bit more than another.

Final Touch, that Aston looks incredible!!

[Final Touch]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

I usually use 205 in 2 steps, first with the Rotary and an 8" yellow polish pad then again with the Orbital and a 6" polish pad. It may not be the/a recommended method but the results are usually pretty good.
Apologies for not having closeups of this one but this is poilshed with 205 in both stages and actually then stripped with a wax and grease remover to apply a paint sealant -Duraseal; we do some re-application warranty work for them here. (not my choice of products, particularly for our roads and climate)
205 and the Carerra passed the solvent wash test.

[fredcandetail]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

so 205 works great when used with a rotarty... what about with a DA??
can someone comment on what speeds/techniques would be equvalent??

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

That Aston looks phenomenal - great work!

[Final Touch]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Hi from New Zealand
We don't have 85RD available in NZ so I can't compare but I have to say that M205 is hands down the best polish I've ever used.
The first time I used it was on an Aston Martin that was quite scratched up, and it required quite a lot of polishing. I'm not sure about you guys but I've always found Aston paint to be incredibly soft and quite difficult to get an ultimate finish on, sometimes even a clean microfibre will leave faint scratches.
We also do stonechip repairs and as part of this we need to solvent wash the panels after we polish them to ensure that the paint adheres to the sides of the chips. Often when we do this we've been left a little disappointed by the finish as the washed panel is very unforgiving and every little defect shows.
I couldn't believe it when we prepped the bonnet on the Aston after using 205... It looked no different from before the solvent. I actually had to check with my workmate to see that he'd done it.
I'm sold on it and seldom use any other polish any more.
We are however still waiting to have it available in Gallon containers here in NZ, it's getting quite costly in 32oz bottles with the amount I use.

Here's another Aston just because pictures are always nice.
Believe it or not it's brand new and how it arrived from the factory. The swirls from the first shot were all over the car. We polished it first (lightly) with M105 than gave a thorough go over with M205. After the 2nd shot we finished it with High Tech Wax. The dealership was pretty happy with the result

Before


After M205


All Finished

[Keefe]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

I can't wait to get the #205.

It's a lot cheaper than the 85RD where I am. I get to pay lesser for 1 gal of #205 than 1 litre of 85RD. In economic sense, the choice is quite obvious.

[PaintPolisher]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Thanks for taking the time - a very good read and review.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Great write up and review. Fantastic finishes on the wide array of paint. Excellent work, Dave.

[TimG]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Very satisfying read indeed. Thanks for the share Dave.

[Kickin Griffin]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Funny you should mention that, I purposefully keep a Civic Type R panel in my unit for testing - its Knighthawk Black, known soft paint and a real challenge to any finishing polish and any technique

I found that on the soft paints, #205 would leave very light tails if you used consistent medium or heavy pressure throughout the set... However, use light pressure at the end of the set, at slightly slower speeds (circa 1200rpm) and the cut level decreases and the abrasives become more burnishing which deals with the tails. Does take a little getting used to, but vary your pressures and when using lighter pressure I move the rotary side to side slower as well as this has given me slightly better results...

[akimel]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Here in the States, Meguiar's M205 and Menzerna 85RD retail for approximately the same amount of money, so the financial equation is a bit different here.

Dave, have you tried M205 on Honda paint yet? I had a heck of a time with M205 and my Flex on my S2000, even with a finishing pad. I finally had to switch to the G110. no doubt it was due to my incompetence, but it was still exasperating.

Al

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Meguiars #205 - The Ultimate Finishing Polish? My Thoughts

Thanks for sharing that VERY detailed review. You do great work.